Battle Royal : Peppermint vs Benedict
by ClockwerkOrange
Summary: When the murderous Irken ex-scientist Benedict is pitted against ex-soldiers Pepper and Mint, this happens. Violence.


"_Whoa, whoa, you're telling me that you sent in an application to join the competition, but you don't know if you were accepted or not?_" the competition employee asked over the radio.

"Yes," Mint said tiredly, propping her head up with her arm. "Pepper thought that it would be a good idea."

Pepper grimaced. "It _is_ a good idea!"

"'_Pepper'? Wait, you're Pepper and Mint?_" the employee asked in a curious tone.

Mint straightened up. "Yes."

"_Yeah, yeah, it says right here that you were accepted for the competition. You'll be up against… erm… wow. They let _him_ in this? He was all over the news when…"_

Mint cleared her throat.

"_Erm… you're cleared for docking onto Observation Station Delta. Have a nice day, now._"

"Excellent! Our opponent sounds like a real tough-ish person," Pepper said. "Glad my hunch was right."

"'All over the news'?" Mint asked with a frown. "Why would our opponent be on the news?"

"Eh, I guess we'll find out," Pepper said dismissively. She propped her hands behind her head, and glanced over at Mint. "Nervous?"

Mint shrugged. "It's not like it's a battle to the _death_ or anything."

**(._.)**

A small, table-headed service drone bounced up to Mint and Pepper as they were exciting their shuttle. "Welcome, brave competitors!" he squeaked.

Pepper stared down at him. "Hello."

He stared back up at Pepper with wide, pink eyes. "I'm meant to guide you to the orientation area!" he continued with a huge smile.

Mint nodded her head absently. "Alright."

"Excellent! Follow _me!_" he suggested, and proudly marched out of the landing bay, and down a hallway. "This is Observation Station Delta. All of the big networks are here already, and they'll be reporting on the event." He waved at another drone inside a room off of the hallway, and she waved back. "That was Jir," he explained in a matter-of-fact tone. "She's handling the sentient beings' rights groups."

"'Sentient beings' rights groups'?" Mint repeated with a curious glance at Pepper. She shrugged. "Uh, but I thought the competitors joined this competition voluntarily."

The drone glanced up at Mint. "Oh, yeah. Most of them."

"Most?" Pepper asked.

"Here we are!" the drone chirped. They had stopped in front of the door at the end of the hallway. "I'll hand you off to Biz. He'll explain everything."

The drone skipped off happily, and Pepper and Mint exchanged puzzled glances. The door slid open fluidly.

"Ladies, please come in," an Irken male around their height said from within. He had dark blue eyes, an antenna-piece clipped into his right antenna, and an obviously fake mustache. He was grinning. "I was… _waiting _for you."

"Ooh, creepy," Mint said while the two walked in. It was a pretty large room with a glass cylinder and a table in it.

"I'm Biz," he stated. "And I'm here to talk to you about the competition." He stared intensely at Pepper's arm. "You seem suspiciously not-so-strong to be taking part in this," he murmured. "Are you sure you want to take part in this event?"

"Are you stupid?" Pepper asked blankly. "I bet I could take you down."

Biz laughed. "Oh, please."

Pepper glared at him, and clenched her fist.

"Erm… right, moving on swiftly…" he said uneasily, and moved quickly to the table. There were several small devices on the table, each in a different color. He picked up a dark blue one. "This is an Index. It'll tell you about your opponent for the current round, as well as the other competitors in general." He handed it to Pepper.

"Thanks, I guess," she muttered. She stuffed it in her pocket.

Mint chimed in with a question, "When does the event start?"

"Oh, also, come this way," Biz said, and guided the duo to the glass cylinder. He opened the small glass door, and gestured for them to enter.

"Um…" Pepper said, but stepped in with Mint.

There was a flash of light, and they were gone.

Biz held his hand to his antenna-piece. "Competitors Pepper and Mint have been beamed to the planet."

**(._.)**

"Pepper?"

Pepper opened her eyes, completely unaware that they had been closed in the first place. She blinked a few times in an effort to become accustomed to the surprising darkness surrounding her.

"Pepper?" Mint repeated.

Pepper turned, and saw Mint's green eyes glow faintly in the dark. "Where are we?" Pepper asked.

"_Planet Doom, of course!"_ a familiar voice chirped.

"Who said that?" Mint asked, glancing from side to side.

Pepper ripped the guilty device out of her pocket. "You," she muttered, staring at the little screen, "…Biz."

"_Guilty as charged, ladies. Sorry that I didn't explain a little bit more, but the fans – they love a spectacle! The cameras will be all over you shortly. You probably won't see them," _he continued happily.

"Wh-… wait. We're on another planet?" Mint asked, glancing around.

"_Oh, haven't you noticed?" _Biz asked, making a great show of glancing from side to side. "_Oh, silly! Silly, silly, silly. I forgot to turn on the lights!_"

While the two stood wondering what he meant, pinpricks of light began appearing in the distance in a neat line, two by two by two. Pepper nudged Mint, who turned and stared. The lights continued lighting up until Pepper realized that they were common streetlights, and they were on a street. Mint started turning around slowly, and Pepper's eyes followed her gaze. The lights of the… _city_… that they were in were beginning to glow, with their position at the intersection being the point at which the lights appeared to lead to.

"How dramatic," Pepper murmured. She had to admit, however, the 'spectacle' was indeed a spectacle. She glanced back down at the Index. "And?"

Biz laughed. _"Right, right. You're up against Benedict!_"

"Who?" Mint asked distantly, still staring at the art deco metropolis spread around them.

"_Ooh, haven't you heard?"_ Biz asked with a chuckle. "_Oh, well, we really don't have that much information for the competition about him. You know… we have some stuff, but not little helpful tips like strengths, weaknesses, et cetera… but I'll bet you've gleaned something from the news."_

"I don't keep up with the news," Pepper hissed. "I demand to know who this person is. I was informed that this _Index_ thing would grant me information about my opponent. I'd like that now."

"_Well…_" Biz said, glancing around. _"Like I said, I don't have much._"

Mint glanced at the monitor. "Why?" she whined.

"_We, uh… we had some trouble communicating with little Benny. Apparently he's a tad deaf._ _I mean, we have some background infor-…"_

Pepper interrupted him. _"_My opponent is deaf," she stated. A beat later, she smirked. "This is going to be so easy that it's going to be pathetic."

"_Well, I don't-…_"

"Oh, shut up. Lean back and watch the video feed. That's what you're there for," Pepper growled. She stuffed the device in her pocket. She started walking down the street, and the sound of her footsteps echoed softly off of the buildings around them.

Mint's footsteps began tapping quickly when she rushed up to follow Pepper. "You shouldn't have been so mean to the guy on the little communicaty-thing," she suggested.

"Why?" Pepper asked, glancing at Mint with a smile.

Mint shrugged.

_Taptap. Taptap. Taptap, _their footsteps sang.

"Soooo…" Mint stared at Pepper curiously. "Where're we going?"

"I don't know," Pepper replied, keeping an intent gaze ahead.

_Taptap. Taptap. Taptap._

"What about the, uh…" Mint stared at her boots. "The competition? Our opponent?"

"What about him?" Pepper asked.

Mint looked from side to side. "Well, shouldn't we be… I dunno…"

"If we keep walking, we'll either find him, or he'll find us. This entire city isn't lit up."

As a certain murderous Irken stumbling through the shadows could testify, Pepper's observation was correct!

"I see," Mint said.

The silence stretched on for a few seconds, in which Mint continued glancing around at the many interesting features of the city. The sidewalk was brand new-looking, but the buildings looked like old art deco-style pieces. There were radiating decorative lines on almost every building. Despite the pleasant architecture, they all looked fairly the same except for the different advertisements and stores on the first floors.

Mint sighed and stared at her boots again. "I'm hungry."

Pepper stopped walking and faced Mint. "You're _hungry_?" she asked flatly.

To prove her point, Mint sighed with more force. She looked up at Pepper with sad, delicate eyes.

Pepper growled something incomprehensible and glanced around. "There! Food place," she said while pointing at one of the closer first floor stores. It said 'Generic Bakery Shop' on the front.

Mint practically fell over herself scrambling to the storefront. She collapsed against the window, and held her hands up to it to peek inside.

Pepper passed her on the way inside. "There's a door," she added dryly on the way through. Mint dashed inside after Pepper.

Someone else peeked out from behind a dumpster in the dark alleyway across the street. "If you go out in the woods today, you'd better not go alone…" he whispered, staring hungrily at the recently closed door. He absently fingered the mildly loosely-hanging noose around his neck. "It's lovely out in the woods today, but safer to stay at home…"

**(._.)**

Mint was sitting on the floor, leaning against the bakery counter. She was holding a small green plastic box. "Oh…" she squeaked, staring intently at the last little marzipan pear within.

Pepper smirked. "Mint, it's just one _tiny little_ marzipan pear," she said from beside her.

"B-but I couldn't possibly eat another-…"

Pepper plucked the pear from the box, and dropped it in her own mouth. Mint stared at her.

"…What? You weren't going to eat it."

_Tap._

"But _Pepper,_ I was _thinking _about it!" Mint whined.

"Stop," Pepper snapped. She looked at the door.

"What?" Mint asked quietly.

Pepper glanced at her sharply. "Quiet."

Mint slowly tensed up when she started comprehending the situation. "Is it him?" she breathed, glancing at Pepper.

As they began standing up, they clearly saw a slightly disheveled-looking Irken through the window. As he neared the door from off to the right - it looked like he had been walking on the sidewalk - he calmly reached for the handle, opened the door, and walked inside. Still maintaining a rather flat expression, he swished slightly closer to the tense pair. He was slouched over with his hands stuffed into the deep pockets of his lab coat, and his green eyes held no trace of emotion. The was a noose draped across his shoulder, with the loop around his neck.

"Hello," he muttered. One of his awkward-looking upward-pointing antennae twitched, and the pair absently noticed it was bent in a few places.

Still tense, Mint straightened slightly. "Hello," she returned. After glancing at Pepper, she continued. "You're our opponent."

There was an awkward pause. "Yes," he said a second later, switching his expression to a grin. "Please, call me Benedict. However, I didn't go for all of the 'fight to the death' garbage that's so encouraged in this event. I think a fair, hand-to-hand fight might be the best way to find the winner," he said knowingly.

Pepper and Mint glanced at each other again.

"Well, this is a nice change of pace," Pepper stated, relaxing slightly. They moved slightly closer to Benedict. "Where might this battle take place?"

Benedict took a moment to think. "On the street, I suppose. That way the cameras ought to capture everything nicely." He held the door open for the two. "After you."

Pepper and Mint nodded their thanks and started out the door. Mint being the second one through, it required minimal effort for Benedict to draw his blade - in about the same condition as his bent antenna - snatch Mint by the shoulder, and hold the dagger to her throat. Mint yelped, but didn't try to break free with cold metal held up against her skin. Benedict slowly guided her outside.

"Yes, yes, that was _too_ easy! Falling for it so quickly… my, my, perhaps there isn't enough calcium in your diets," he suggested with a maniacal smile plastered across his face. "So _gullible_!"

Pepper was standing a few feet from him, seething. "I knew you'd try something, I just didn't expect you to lack the honor to do it during the actual combat." She took a step closer to Benedict. "If you release Mint this instant, I will think about resuming the deal with the hand-to-hand fight. However, if you do not, I will slaughter you."

Benedict laughed after comprehending her words. "Really? _Really?_ I have your twin or clone or whatever she is held hostage, and _you're_ threatening _me?_" That's about when Mint kicked backward, strike landing roughly just below his belly. He staggered about and started coughing while Mint scrambled next to Pepper. He dropped his blade, but went for it again. Pepper brought her boot down on it, and viciously kicked it away. Benedict recovered from the blow, and analyzed his options. Upon seeing an equally furious expression mirrored between his opponent's faces, he decided to run. He glanced behind him, and pushed through the door of a building that was next to the bakery. Glancing behind him periodically, he climbed the art deco staircase in the foyer, and breathlessly reached the top. He started looking around in an attempt to find some sort of item to use as a weapon. The hallway was bare.

"You had your chance to a 'fair' fight!" one of his two pursuers shouted.

In response to the hazy sound, he turned around and faced the area that he had come from, and couldn't help but notice the two Irkens standing at the end of the hallway to the stairs. He turned back around, and noticed that the hallway ended at a window. He had to have been on the fifth floor, at least… "Back up!" he shouted, pointing at them. They started moving closer. "Stay away!"

Once they were close enough, he tried to strike one of them. The one he had tried to hit, Mint, grabbed his hand with both of hers, and held it there while Pepper smashed something most closely resembling a thin metal pipe into his head. He slammed against the wall, and then hit the floor. He opened his eyes, and after his vision cleared, he noticed that Pepper was holding a slightly bent golf club that looked as if it was plucked out of an ornamental case. He coughed, and tasted blood. Scrambling backward from the two attackers hovering above him, he desperately got onto his feet and dashed down the hall to the window. Thankfully, there was a door to the balcony outside. He went through, and looked down the guardrail for some way to climb down.

It was a flat brick wall.

That was when the door creaked open. "Stop!" Benedict shouted at Pepper, who once again dealt a vicious blow to Benedict - most likely breaking one of his hands, seeing as he flung up his arms before she struck him - and watched him hit the ground. He was shaking, and barely conscious. A trail of blood began flowing from the side of his head.

Pepper tossed the freshly-curved golf club aside, and stared at her handiwork. Mint looked horrified, but she kept a grim expression aimed at her former hostage taker.

"Well, Biz?" Pepper shouted from on top of the balcony. "It's done! He's not dead, but he's lost!"

No response.

"Fine," Pepper breathed. "You want a spectacle, I'll give you a spectacle…"

The woefully injured Benedict held up his uninjured arm and recoiled slightly from Pepper's touch. She viciously grabbed the longer rope from his loose noose, and strained as she pulled him closer to the edge of the balcony by it. He started coughing from the newly tightened loop around his neck.

"Not such a cutesy little fashion item now, is it?" Pepper hissed. She glanced back at Mint. "Help me _end_ this opponent."

Mint obediently grabbed Benedict's legs, already sure of what she was trying to do. Once Pepper's grip was secure, she pushed him over the guardrail. Pepper held onto the end of the noose for a few seconds, but when her strength began to falter - both from Benedict's medium weight and the fact that he was clawing viciously at the rope - she calmly let him drop.

They were on the seventh floor of the building.


End file.
